In case you missed it last month, Stitch Fix is an online personal styling website that gets to know you using an extensive questionnaire to determine your preferences, size, overall style now, and helps you to decide just how daring you want to be as you enhance your closet with new pieces. A stylist takes a look at your style profile along with any other information you want to share and chooses 5 wardrobe pieces and pops them in the mail to you. You choose the price point you're comfortable with, but the average cost per garment seems to fall between $50-$100 (although I've kept two items that were under $50). You have three days to try on the new clothes and style them with things you already own (my favorite part of this entire concept) and then you check out online, keeping the items you loved and sending back the rest in the included pre-paid envelope. My first fix I liked everything, kept two pieces, and sent the rest back because they weren't perfect and I knew I wouldn't have kept them if I picked them up in a store while shopping myself.
The theory goes, that with the feedback you provide upon check out each fix is supposed to be better than the last. So I was pleased when I opened this month's box and saw a variety of items I was attracted to. Here's what this month's box included....
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| Dark gray cropped jacket with asymmetrical zipper detail |
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| Simple black fit and flare dress |
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| Long hooded cardigan with tie waist |
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| Sheer blouse with exposed zipper detail in back |
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| Peach sweater with silver threaded "elbow pads" (this is the back of the sweater) |
First impressions - I loved the concept of the jacket. Not only do I not own anything similar, but I need some casual outerwear/layering pieces that have some fun to them. I definitely thought this was going to be great, didn't mind that it was cropped, and looked more expensive than it was. The dress was going to be hit or miss. I actually don't have a little black dress option that I love right now, but the material definitely read cheap up close and while you can mask that with accessories, I figured this might make it into my closet as a casual dress but wouldn't work for night. The sweater cardigan I wasn't thrilled with. It was a lot of material and looked a bit like pajama loungewear. The blouse I was happy about, it was cute and even came with a white camisole to wear with it. This was good timing because my go to white camisole had just had a fight with our dryer and lost badly. Lastly, the sweater was a great color and the elbow details were fun. But it had a large boat neck and shorter torso, both of which aren't all that attractive on me. So with mixed feelings I decided to start trying things on.
Oh man did this jacket make me sad. I really had high hopes for it, but this came in a size large, and while my body hasn't adjusted post-baby to a size I'm comfortable with, this really killed my self esteem. It was cropped to be very short in the torso (still, I could get over this alone), but also the sleeves were 2-3 inches too short. The shoulders did seem to fit pretty well, so I was seriously confused about the proportions. I felt like I picked up some kids jacket and tried to squeeze into it. I quickly took a picture but then took it off and immediately packed it up in the return envelope.
Well, as expected this dress would probably look good with lots of accessories. The neckline was nice, the fit was fine, and the length was good. With a jacket or cardigan, some jewelry, maybe a belt, this dress would have become very versitele for casual wear. But I couldn't justify spending the money on a dress that I would ultimately be styling up to "hide". Like I suspected, I felt fairly neutral about it, but I decided against it in the end.
Well as expected, this would make a nice bathrobe, but is not suitable to wear in public. Ironically the picture looks a bit better than it does in person, but the biggest flaw with this garment is that the tie belt sits below the natural waist. As a result, it makes the wearer look bigger than they are. Already a sensitive subject for me, so this was an immediate no. On the hanger it did drape well and I suspect on someone who's very tall and thin it would actually be really interesting, but this did my no favors. At this point I was getting really frustrated and discouraged about this second fix.
Finally something I liked! This blouse is really comfortable, it's cute, and it will likely become a staple item in my closet. I was nervous about sleeveless, but I already wore this with a white cropped jacket and it looked great. Easy decision to keep this one.
Another disappointment with this sweater. The issues I suspected on the hanger were true when wearing it. The color and silver threading throughout is great, and the elbow stitching is cute. However, the combination of a wide boat neckline and shorter torso makes this very boxy on me. The picture above is slightly deceiving, from straight on I really did look wide and short. Yet another letdown...
So from this fix I kept one out of five items. Again, I gave what I consider to be really constructive feedback but I am admittedly disheartened by the fact that this second fix was so much less helpful for me than the first. It's interesting, the first impression opinions I had were overall more positive, but I feel like if a stylist took just a few minutes to consider body type and proportions two or three of these pieces wouldn't have made it in the box at all. Because I do have one remaining referral credit left I'm going to give it a third (and possibly final) try. I have heard so much success from others and with Benji glued to my hip shopping is difficult in the stores right now anyways. So fingers crossed, lets hope the third time is a charm.
